Born and raised in Chennai, which he prefers to call 'Madras', Manikandan joined The Hindu in 1999 and is currently based in its office in Tambaram and covers the city's southern suburbs. Follow him o...
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Slits throats of wife and mother, stabs daughter and jumps in front of train; debt believed to be cause

A 48-year-old businessman of Sri Lankan Tamil origin murdered his wife, mother and 13-year-old daughter, minutes before jumping in front of an electric train and killing himself in Pazhavanthangal early on Tuesday morning.

The incident sent shockwaves through the quiet neighbourhood of Thillaiganga Nagar, where the family had lived. While locals say the murders-suicide were a result of pressure exerted by moneylenders, police have ruled out any such possibility.

According to Adambakkam police, the killings took place between 3.45 and 4.30 a.m..

C.J. Sundaresan, the owner of a travel agency, lived with his wife, daughter and mother in a rented flat on 42nd Street, Thillaiganga Nagar. On Monday, Sundaresan had taken his wife and daughter to a theme park on Rajiv Gandhi Salai. They returned home after dinner.

Early on Tuesday morning, Sundaresan got up and slit the throat of his wife Chitra (40) inside their bedroom, before attacking his mother, 70-year-old Thangamma. He then stabbed his 13-year-old daughter Thamira several times. Thamira is reported to have tried to shout for help. Both Thangamma and Thamira were asleep in the hall when Sundaresan attacked them.

After killing his family, Sundaresan ran out of his home and jumped in front of an electric train between Pazhavanthangal and Nanganallur. He was killed instantly.

However, the driver of the first electric train between Tambaram and Chennai saw Sundaresan jumping on the track and informed staff at St. Thomas Mount railway station. Officers of the government railway police immediately went to the spot. They recovered Sundaresan’s body and also found his mobile phone.

The police called the last-dialled numbers on the phone, and a friend of Sundaresan’s told them where the family lived. When the police arrived at the house, they found the front door open, and the women and child lying in pools of blood.

P. Saravanan, deputy commissioner, St. Thomas Mount, said Sundaresan had used a small but sharp kitchen knife to assault his mother, wife and daughter.

Police said that in addition to owning the travel agency, Sundaresan also rented out vehicles.

Earlier, he owned 5 vehicles, but had to sell three of them in order to pay off debts. Despite these sales, Sundaresan continued to be heavily in debt. This could have led to the murders and his suicide, police said.

According to sources, Sundaresan had taken loans from a few people recently, and at least one of these moneylenders was pressing him to repay the loan.

Sundaresan had said he was unable to pay him, at which the point the moneylender allegedly threatened him. Sundaresan had then approached the police for protection.

According to police sources, the matter was resolved amicably about six months ago with Sundaresan agreeing to repay the money.

The bodies of all the victims were taken to Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital in Chromepet.

Neighbours shocked

The family, originally from Jaffna in Sri Lanka, had settled in Chennai in 1980. They were living in Nanganallur earlier, before moving to Thillaiganga Nagar 10 years ago. “They were a quiet family, and rarely interacted with neighbours. The girl was cheerful and played with rest of the children on the street,” said Amsa, a neighbour.

S. Bhaskaran, a former councillor of Alandur municipality, who also knew the family, said: “Sundaresan was a very soft-spoken person and friendly with everybody. This is a tragic incident.”

Staff at Thamira’s school, Chellammal Vidyalaya in Nanganallur, were shocked when they heard of the incident. Thamira, who had just been promoted to class VIII, exhibited extraordinary team spirit and leadership qualities, a schoolteacher said. She excelled in academics and also took a keen interest in science projects and volunteered to take part in other extra-curricular activities as well.

The dreaded system of Usury is to blame for these deaths. Man has tackled innumberable dilemmas of insurmountable proportions and come up successful, but it is a riddle why he has not come up with a solution against Usury. Perhaps, if Sundaresan had had the oppurtunity to borrow as per Islamic Finance norms wherein those who lend to him would become partners in his trade for that extent then no money lender would have had the power to threaten him for non-repayment. If the business gave profits the money could be returned or if the business faced loss the no money need be returned. Govt should allow Sharia compliant lending system for small beusinesses at least.

from:
Massoud SK

Posted on: May 22, 2013 at 14:36 IST

Unable to understand the psychological reasoning behind the murders. In a capitalistic soceity this shall be a daily affair. People are pushed to think money shall bring anything. It has brought death of 4 innocent lives. May the Lord bless them!!

from:
Ghajabiram

Posted on: May 22, 2013 at 13:45 IST

I wonder where this society is heading to...Instances like delhi rape case, Murders, Suicides have become casual in todays world... i am afraid if our country will lose human values and relationships soon and go the heights of doing any kind of nasty works for his/her benefit..

from:
Shaliny

Posted on: May 22, 2013 at 11:59 IST

Such a horrific tragedy clearly state the mental elevation and roughness faced by metropolitan people. Stress management is something that needs to be stressed here. In fast moving world where everyone is fighting for survival, setbacks will try to pull us down but its on us how we fight back and strive for success. There are examples who proved their brilliance even in most distressing situations, who know how to take failure to their advantage to achieve greater summits(I am referring to Steve jobs )

from:
Vikas Chandra

Posted on: May 21, 2013 at 23:33 IST

Did he not read the success story of the Tamil gentleman who went to Bombay, lived in a one room "house", drove an auto rickshaw to earn money and made her daughter top the all India CA exam?

from:
Siva Ramaswami

Posted on: May 21, 2013 at 23:17 IST

Life is very fast in the todays world.Changes that are to come about by 100 years are coming about by mere 5 years.The people are running very hard to catch up with the fast changing social situations and realities-no time to rest and think the right and wrong.When we think that we have earned something and look at the society,we see that the society has gone far beyond and we are far behind.Money earned through hard work has little value in the larger society.This coupled with frustration make people think of easy money which demolishes the very foundation of society.

from:
BIJU RAVEENDRAN

Posted on: May 21, 2013 at 14:57 IST

Such conditions are the outcomes of inability to handle stress of distrusts situation. People must need to make them self able to handle such situation.

from:
Shrikant

Posted on: May 21, 2013 at 14:17 IST

After all, what is going to happen? Why did he have to kill his mother,wife and daughter? He should not have decided to commit suicide and even if it was his decision and why should he force others to die. People who face this kind of trouble should think 100 times before repeating this.

from:
Ravi

Posted on: May 21, 2013 at 13:15 IST

Time again we read and hear that people commit suicide. This suicidal tendency arises out discomfort or a shift down during your normal routine.The thought of suicide does not occur immediately , the thought is like a embryo grows into a full and blown form. Normally the period depends on weeks or months, during this period who is closely associated with him either friends or family will certainly notice cognizant behavior , so if they observe something like that , it is the duty of his wife or close friend is to attend this sick person, perhaps of rehabilitation and different form of counselling without making to much of publicity to handle the situation with utmost care and diligence. If this is carried out discreetly perhaps there is a possibility by the victim to cope up the depression and face the reality.A word of caution to those who have this thought, dont think you are the only person who is going through , ur problem will look big, but until u fight out u will not taste the V